Eat Drink & Be Wary

<p>Food and drink do a lot more than address physical need. They play a central role in our emotional and social existence. They serve as currency for hospitality love and affection as a security blanket and plug for psychic wounds and as a touchstone for times that have slipped into memory. They provide an excuse for people to sit together and share a meal a round or two and often the experience of connection. </p><p><br></p><p>Cognoscenti have long laid claim to this turf. They got a lot of company - and competition - in the late 20th century when food and drink escalated into the stuff of entertainment foodie and cocktail cultures multiple TV networks and intellectual superiority. </p><p><br></p><p>Writer and critic Kathy Biehl wandered through this terrain as it morphed and reported her findings to all manner of publications in print and online. The <span style=color: rgba(9 9 9 1)>joys quirks and questionable behavior that she observed fill this kaleidoscopic collection of her award-winning commentary and diaristic reports From Houston's burgeoning culinary landscape to late-night revelry in Britain and Barcelona to a Hell's Kitchen TV studio it captures a way of life we take for granted no longer when people freely gathered at tables and counters shared food raised glasses and partook of drama and laughter and magic.</span></p>